Sometimes I drop my cross, deserve a little rest...
Posted August 29, 2009
By veritas,
...that's when I run to You and I nail Your feet and Your wrists
I imagine legions of new Skillet fans will be running to check out their older albums. If you are one of them, you will be pleased to know that the inclusion of ballads and the mixture of different orchestral instruments in the background is a part of even the earliest Skillet release. However, before diving all the way back to their roots, you will want to note a few changes in the thirteen years since their self-titled record was released. The style of music is drastically different as a whole and from song-to-song takes several different forms. The lyrics are hard-hitting and honest, though they do come across as a bit trite and corny in a couple instances.
The first few songs are as solid as any group of songs in Skillet's discography and contain some of the best lyrics they have ever written.
The opening track, I Can, perhaps single-handedly defined Skillet as the Christian alternative to popular 90's grunge bands. The song looks at the times where we've betrayed Christ, and whether or not we can come to God amidst our guilt and shame. The song's title proclaims the answer to that question as it comes to the conclusion that we can, even when the rooster crows, portraying our denials of Christ in the same light as Peter's.
Gasoline sees the band continue their grunge sound while spinning this tale about literally having your heart out on a table in front of God. John sings of wanting God to take his heart and put it in a box (Heart-Shaped Box reference anyone?) for fear of other people hurting him. In this song, God responds that He wants instead to set it on fire for Him. Jesus' sacrifice is also directly mentioned in the bridge.
This is followed up by Saturn, a surreal acoustic turn from the previous two songs. The lyrics, while nothing terribly profound, offer a softer message with "Heaven has a ring around you / The angels sing a song over you / If you don't see it, know that it's true".
The hard hitters come right back, along with brutally honest lyrics, in My Beautiful Robe. This is one of the deeper songs in Skillet's repertoire, so let's take a closer look at it. John's lines speaking out against hypocrisy here fall right in line with scripture.
I want pleasure in Your sight
I want to subscribe to Your delight
So hold on and see what I do for You
Oh by the way...
Did You see me dressed in my beautiful robe?
Here we have the image of a person who says and does all of the right things in public, but is not necessarily as close to God as they would like to have everyone think. To me, it clearly draws a picture of the Pharisees during Jesus' time, however you can also see the parallels with several passages in Isaiah and God's comments about the Israelites.
"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
-Isaiah 29:13
God gave me a cross, but I made my own instead
My beautiful cross carries on, I'll carry on
I cut down a tree
Said "Man, would you look at me?"
I stuck my head in a thorn bush
Man, I was deceived
I fell to my knees and I remembered
The words of God pierced so hard
"Your righteousness is like filthy rags"
And I fell to my knees and said, "My filthy robe"
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags."
-Isaiah 64:6
If you look through the rest of Isaiah, you'll see that during that period, God's people were sinful and rebellious and even likened to Sodom and Gomorah at one point. Yet, they continued to offer God sacrifices and prayers. They were hypocritical and insincere, worshipping while they also continued to do evil, and so the Lord repudiated their false righteousness for it was like filthy rags to him.
That is not even the first half of the album. Though not as strong as the earlier songs, the latter portion is still highlighted by Promise Blender, one of the hardest songs on the record, as well as Safe With You, a slow worship song.
The raw, gritty rock sound and John's raspy vocals may win over old grunge fans, but will certainly scare off more than a few of the most recent set of Skillet listeners. Make all of the comments you will about their unpolished sound here, but you cannot deny the message... or, unfortunately, the watering down of it since.
My Highlights: My Beautiful Robe, I Can, Gasoline
Soak my heart in gasoline
Light a match and consume me
Soak my pride in gasoline
All of You and none of me View All Music And Book Reviews By veritas | View veritas's Profile
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